Greg Frattaroli, 19, of Newtown, Conn., visits a memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims on Tuesday. A week ago, a gunman killed 26 at the school.

Written by

Gary Stoller
USA TODAY

Stepping gingerly around makeshift memorials across the street from the Aurora, Colo., movie theater where a month before 12 people were murdered and 58 wounded, I mentioned to my daughter how awful it was that such a lively community might forever have a killing-fields reputation.

One disturbed person armed to the teeth with evil intent had shattered and tainted a city in the Denver suburbs in July.

I drove back to our Aurora hotel where family gathered for a wedding, thinking how lucky my two children - Kristin, then 19, and Ben, 18 - were to grow up in Newtown, where violent crime usually meant ...